The castle of Siteia is mostly in ruins now, with the exception of a double-storied tower, with round look out points. It is well worth visiting, however, and lies on a hill looking over the pleasant seaside town of the same name. The original castle, built by the Genoese “pirate”, Enrico Pescatore, in the early 13th century, was closer to the sea, but this was destroyed by a couple of earthquakes and raids by the corsair, Hairedin Barbarossa, in the 1530s. The Venetians decided that the new castle needed to be higher up the hill if it were to withstand further attacks, but within a few years Siteia and its castle were in the hands of the Ottoman Turks, who did not rebuild it.
